Twin Daemons Attack

Macragge's Honour drifted like a dying beast through the chaotic void at the edge of the Scarlet Maelstrom. In the end, it had failed to escape the Maelstrom.

Its engines had gone completely dead, leaving only twisted metal and cooling embers within its massive thruster nozzles.

The void shield generators had overloaded and burned out, black smoke curling from breaches in the hull.

The enormous hole Skarbrand had smashed through the hull was like a wound that would never heal, steadily spilling ghostly light from leaking energy, fragments of warped metal, and... endless despair.

Inside the bridge, the battle had briefly been pulled back from the brink of collapse by the Valkyrie Squad's near-miraculous coordination.

Under the protection of Prinz Eugen's Wall of Sighs and bolstered by Joan of Arc's sacred Halo, Guilliman and Prince of Wales had forcibly withstood Skarbrand's world-shattering assault.

Glory's battlefield-wide suppression and precise kills, along with Nimi's high-speed harassment and guidance, kept the surging Khorne daemon horde beyond the core battlefield.

Yet that balance was fragile, bought with the Valkyries' rapidly draining strength and energy.

The color had drained from Glory's elegant face, and her breathing had grown faintly hurried.

Though the crystal array atop her staff still shone brilliantly, every time she formed chains of light energy or fired a Judgment Light Spear, her slender body gave an almost imperceptible tremble.

She had held back too many waves of Khorne's forces and suppressed too many powerful elite units. Her energy reserves were draining like floodwaters through opened gates.

Nimi's nimble blue streak of light had visibly slowed as well.

Her petite form no longer weaved through dense bolter fire and daemon claws with the same ease. The rotary cannons on her back had slowed, and the density of her firepower had weakened.

While covering a flanking Ultramarines squad, she took a heavy blow from a Khorne Bonecrusher head-on. The armor on her left arm, covered by light ship-grade plating, let out a piercing screech as it warped, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Though she immediately blasted the brute away with a torpedo, her movements had clearly slowed by a beat.

And in that brief instant!

Several cunning Khorne Berserkers and Bloodletters seized the gap in Nimi's defenses. Like sharks scenting blood, they burst through the fire net, howling as they broke through a relatively weak section at the edge of the Wall of Sighs' force field and charged into the heart of the bridge command center!

"Watch out!" Nimi cried, trying to fall back and reinforce them, only to be immediately entangled by more enemies.

"Purify!" Joan of Arc reacted with astonishing speed, her knightly sword slashing toward the invading daemons in a blaze of holy golden light.

But there were too many enemies, and they had spread out. Their targets were Glory, who was maintaining the overall suppression, and the exhausted Guilliman!

Then an even more fatal development occurred!

"Buzzz—!!!"

A shriek filled with endless malice, distortion, and the ecstasy of revenge pierced through the bridge's clamor like the most vicious ice spike, stabbing viciously into everyone's minds!

Above the bridge, space rippled like water struck by a stone, sending out bizarre, shifting waves of pinkish-purple and blue!

A Warp rift, its edges flickering with Tzeentch runes, silently tore open!

Kairos Fateweaver's enormous, mutilated form slowly descended from within! At the stump of the left arm severed by the Emperor's Sword, strands of golden flame still clung like maggots to bone, slowly burning away at its Chaos essence and inflicting unceasing agony.

Rather than weakening it, that agony made the flames of revenge burn even more madly and venomously within its compound eyes, made of countless screaming faces!

"Hehehe... Surprised, Roboute Guilliman?" Kairos's voice was warped and shrill, brimming with the delight of imminent vengeance. "And you... anomalies!!"

Its gaze swept over Prince of Wales, Glory, and the other Valkyries, filled with bone-deep hatred and greed. "Did you think... you could escape this graveyard crafted especially for you? No! Your fates were woven long ago! This is where you will die! Your power... will become the Lord of Change's most precious collection!"

Its sole remaining massive arm swung sharply!

Countless daemons gleaming with Tzeentchian blue light—Change Daemons, Pink Horrors, Flame Sorcerers, and Tzeentch sorcerers clad in bizarre rune-covered armor and wielding twisted staffs—erupted from the rift like lethal poison mist!

They did not immediately attack Guilliman and the others. Instead, they cunningly spread throughout the bridge, beginning to lay down vicious psychic arrays, sealing space and summoning more Warp whispers to erode their wills!

Their arrival instantly created a strange standoff with the Khorne daemon forces outside, but more importantly, they completely encircled the bridge's core area!

Attacked from both sides! Two daemons at the abyss!

Skarbrand let out an enraged roar of offense, its savage single eye turning toward Kairos. "Guilliman is mine!"

Yet it temporarily halted its savage assault on Guilliman, clearly wary of the treacherous Kairos.

Guilliman seized the chance to catch his breath, planting the Emperor's Sword into the deck to support his exhausted body.

His expression was grim beyond measure. His gaze swept over the two horrific Greater Daemons glaring at him, the endless ocean of daemons surrounding them, the remaining battered Ultramarines and mortal auxilia on the bridge with barely any ammunition left, before finally resting on the five Valkyries beside him, each showing signs of exhaustion.

A deep guilt, as heavy as a sea of stars, instantly engulfed the Primarch.

All along the way, from Ultramar to this desperate Maelstrom, Master Obi-Wan had repeatedly warned them through wisdom and the Force, turning the tide time and again. These five Valkyries from the Hilling Empire had descended like divine warriors, forcibly tearing open a path to survival from certain death! The strength, courage, and spirit of sacrifice they had displayed had earned the deepest respect of Guilliman and every Imperial soldier.

But now... he, Roboute Guilliman, Regent of the Imperium of Man, was about to drag them into this abyss of eternal damnation! For his mission to Terra, for the Imperium of Man's faint hope, these allies from another land would have to die alongside him!

"Everyone..." Guilliman's voice was hoarse and heavy, bearing unprecedented exhaustion and remorse as he turned toward the Valkyries. "I... am deeply ashamed. The Hilling Empire's aid is a debt beyond measure. But now... this ship is a dead end. The expeditionary force's main body has already escaped the Maelstrom. My mission... may have to be completed by them."

He drew a deep breath, as though gathering the last of his courage. "You... possess the power to cross the sea of stars... Leave. Take Master Obi-Wan and the Spartans, and leave this place! Return to your Imperium! The Imperium of Man... will forever remember your kindness!"

Guilliman's words struck every heart like heavy drumbeats.

The Imperial soldiers on the bridge tightened their grips on their weapons, their eyes tragic yet resolute. They understood the Regent's meaning—hold the line and fight to the death! Buy one final chance of survival for these foreign allies who had brought them hope!

Prince of Wales's icy gaze swept over Guilliman, then shifted to the two Greater Daemons watching like tigers. The chainsword greatblade in her hand gave off a low hum. She offered no reply, but her stance made everything clear—she would never retreat!

Glory's face was pale, but her eyes remained as firm as ever. Though the light from her staff had weakened, it had not gone out. "Lord Regent, our orders are to provide support until the mission is complete or we can no longer continue. The mission is not yet complete."

Prinz Eugen leaned wearily against a nearly ruined console, a sharp glint flashing through her red eyes. "Leave now? That would be too embarrassing. This big sister doesn't want people saying she ran from battle. I've already sent the situation here back to the Hilling Empire through the mind network. There hasn't been a response yet, but reinforcements should already be on the way."

Nimi wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and forced herself upright. She gave Guilliman a somewhat weak yet still fighting smile. "Since the Valkyrie Legion was founded, no one has ever fled the battlefield. I won't be the first!"

Joan of Arc raised her fleur-de-lis shield. Though the holy light had dimmed, it remained pure. "Where faith lies, there my sword shall point. This battle is not yet over."

Their answers were clear and unwavering.

There were no grand declarations, yet they carried more strength than any oath.

Kairos let out a piercing laugh. "How deeply moving! Unfortunately, before great destiny, it merely adds to the joke! Today, none of you will leave! The web of fate has already tightened!"

Its massive arm swung, and the chants of the surrounding Tzeentch sorcerers abruptly rose in pitch. Pinkish-purple psychic runes began weaving through the void like chains!

Skarbrand also lost patience. Its blood axe rose once more, its frenzied killing intent locking onto Guilliman. "Skulls for the Skull Throne!"

Despair, like a tide of ice-cold water, engulfed the battered flagship once again.

Obi-Wan had just led the wounded to a relatively safe area when he sensed the terrifying Greater Daemon auras coming from the bridge and the suddenly intensified psychic blockade. His expression changed drastically.

He looked at the unconscious Carter and the exhausted Spartans beside him, then toward the bridge. Tightening his grip around the lightsaber hilt, his eyes filled with determination.

Macragge's Honour, the flagship carrying the Primarch and their hopes, was like a lone boat in a storm, about to face its final—and darkest—hour.